Representation in the media

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

No.

 

[[Redacted]-san]

I'm black and I only want a story/film with good characters, I could care less about the color of their skin, only their personally and actions they make in the story. That's it.

 

[Saklas]

The only thing Hollywood will ever represent to me is humanity in its lowest form. I don’t care about anything else beyond that. I guess if Hollywood teaches us anything it’s that scum bags come in all forms.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

A lot of consoomers care, but especially young people.

As a kid, you look for people 'like you' in everything, and considering that America has been, for most of its history, a majority white nation, a lot of what most kids grew up watching until the past 40-50 years was white people. There was a certain point, and sometimes still is, a point where people, especially kids, can benefit from seeing figures that are 'like them'. I can say with conviction that the few pieces of media I consumed that had positive queer rep when I was growing up made me happy as a clam.

As I got older, I stopped caring as much. If I see a gay or bi man who isn't a caricature, I kinda point and say 'eyyy, nice,' but that's about it. The almost childlike bent of most young adults nowadays tends to manifest this more, as we're moving slowly to a point where 25 is the new 18 in the public consciousness, where you don't really need to 'have your life together' and 'be an adult' until you're staring down the barrel of middle age. I think that's why we're seeing more screeching about 'representation matters'- because it really, genuinely does, in their heart, whether it's actually good representation or just blatant pandering.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Nothing is more important than being constantly marketed toward.

How else am I supposed to know I'm valuable to society!?

 

[muh_moobs]

Lol no.

And why did this loser on Twitter forget the greatest Black Superhero of all time; Blank Man?

 

[SmugAutist]

Of course it matters, it's only that when you hear people think about "representation" or "diversity" it's only in the most basic level imaginable, that being, race or gender.

When you think about a real diversity in your audience you're thinking about more than just those superficial things. You're thinking of a character's background, story, evolution, etc. Same with diversity in business. You target income levels, geographical areas, social upbringing, language, etc. These are things that can be a little complicated and are too much for the average pea-brained Hollywood writer or Twitter user to understand, so they just have diversity be what you can see with your eyes.

I'll admit that I, for example, tend to gravitate to more male oriented things. Sci-fi, fantasy, superhero stuff, thriller, pulps, etc. in terms of my guilty pleasure consooming, yet the protagonist doesn't exactly have to be a 1/4th Hispanic white guy like me, so long as the character touches on the themes I tend to like, then I'm game, be it a pasty whitey or a darky, or a chink. Most of these "diverse" characters that are peddled by the media and Hollywood are not really diverse in their attitudes and actions once you peel away the fact that it's a 300 pound black lesbian. They all talk the same, act the same, and have either the same paper thin progression or don't even bother to have one at all.

 

[Malagor the dank omen]

When you think about a real diversity in your audience you're thinking about more than just those superficial things. You're thinking of a character's background, story, evolution, etc. Same with diversity in business. You target income levels, geographical areas, social upbringing, language, etc. These are things that can be a little complicated and are too much for the average pea-brained Hollywood writer or Twitter user to understand, so they just have diversity be what you can see with your eyes.

This. This is the diversity that matters.

Everything else is for people to feel important about themselves by proxy. They just want to be able to say "I'm X like this easily recognizable character in popular media that both you and i consume. I'm awesome because of that!" These people are devoid of any kind of characteristic and thus they cry the hardest about representation

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

2005 gaming: I must escape my real life in which I am severely crippled!

2020 gaming: No, Jimmy! You must be represented! Embrace being broken for life!

 

[Dick Justice]

Yes but no. Representation is important for shit that actually matters, like socioeconomic class, profession, and hobbies. It's important that hockey fans, physicists, and the rural poor can find stories that resonate with them in the media. But in current year representation is just identity politics and identity politics mean less than nothing.

Rule of thumb: could you replace a character of demographic X with a character from demographic Y without having to rewrite the story? If yes it's identity politics bullshit.

 

[JambledUpWords]

Good story and characters > representation
If it’s a genuinely good story and the characters are well written, I’m able to empathize more, regardless of race, creed, gender, etc. If it’s just representation for representation’s sake, I’ll pass (unless it’s hilariously bad). Finally, you have to be a huge narcissist if you are only able to empathize with people that look and act the exact way you do.

 

[Ghost of Wesley Willis]

Representation is usually forced 9/10 times and absolutely fucks with the creative process.

 

[Casca Enjoyed It]

I'm black and I only want a story/film with good characters, I could care less about the color of their skin, only their personally and actions they make in the story. That's it.

Same here. This forced diversity stuff is very annoying and patronizing to me and it doesn't feel genuine in the slightest.
They need to start focusing on telling a good story with good characters that are also diverse in personalities, motivations, and traits instead of unnecessary identity politics and bland shoehorned "representation." I could care less about how many black people there are in a story.

 

[Lunete]

Everyone wants to see racially diverse heros but nobody wants to see a well written diverse range of bad guys. Where's the love for my villains of color?

 

[c-no]

As I got older, I stopped caring as much. If I see a gay or bi man who isn't a caricature, I kinda point and say 'eyyy, nice,' but that's about it. The almost childlike bent of most young adults nowadays tends to manifest this more, as we're moving slowly to a point where 25 is the new 18 in the public consciousness, where you don't really need to 'have your life together' and 'be an adult' until you're staring down the barrel of middle age. I think that's why we're seeing more screeching about 'representation matters'- because it really, genuinely does, in their heart, whether it's actually good representation or just blatant pandering.

Same. I'm not really one to care much about representation since I'm just here to consume a product. If there's a character that's gay or black or Canadian or whatever and they aren't a caricature, I can see that as a nice thing at least if they aren't written badly or just shoved in there to try and make shit look like they cared about more than money. That said, I'll admit, I do give a small smile seeing my ethnicity appear in media but that's pretty much akin to "eyyy, nice."

Everyone wants to see racially diverse heros but nobody wants to see a well written diverse range of bad guys. Where's the love for my villains of color?

Honestly who wouldn't want to see a villain of color that manages to do shit like an ambitious person that wants world domination or a scientist willing to go beyond most scientist and their ethics for the greater good of humanity and the like. At least from that, we can get pocs to have roles that can cover more than just "protagonist" and "stereotype" and "side character" and the like.

 

[Chicken Picnic]

I couldn't care less. Film and television isn't real life and doesn't need to represent real life. There's tons of black cinema out there in other countries, just like there's Bollywood for the Asians out there. No one should feel compelled to represent any specific culture if they don't want to

 

[Adolf Hitler]

Only in crime statistics.

 

[CivilianOfTheFandomWars]

Does anything matter, really?

 

[Kane Lives]

Hollywood films being 90% white prior to 1990 didn't stop me from enjoying them then, or now.

Almost like some things are universally enjoyable and can transcend culture...

(And I wanted to see a local production, I'll do it. When I watch American shows I watch it for America, not for some bastardized version of what some ivory tower liberal think diversity should look like.)

 

[Windows XP Home Edition]

Everyone wants to see racially diverse heros but nobody wants to see a well written diverse range of bad guys. Where's the love for my villains of color?

Depends, like when Hollywood wasn't allowed to portray any Chinese character as a villain because they were sucking up to the CCP for money and they cut off scenes of Hong Kong in movies to actors/actresses from Mainland China.